Austria caps refugee numbers

Austria wants to limit the number of refugees coming to the country during the next four years, with a dramatic reduction in the number of asylum applications being made.

Chancellor Werner Faymann said Wednesday that Austria will accept 37,500 asylum claims this year, and 127,500 through 2019. He was speaking after a meeting of national and regional leaders Wednesday.

The numbers represent a substantial decrease in asylum applications, which stood at 90,000 in 2015 — many of which have yet to be processed.

Faymann, of the Social Democratic Party, said the figures were a “guideline.” However, Deputy Chancellor Reinhard Mitterlehner, of the SDP’s coalition partner, the center-right People’s Party (ÖVP), called the figures an “upper limit.”

Faymann said that the cap, which accounts for 1.5 percent of Austria’s 8.5 million inhabitants, was an “emergency solution” that would serve as a “wake up call for the EU.”

It remains unclear what will happen when the maximum number has been reached. According to Austrian media, the government is considering building waiting zones near its borders.

The Schengen agreement on open borders was “temporarily suspended” in Austria Saturday. “It is extremely troubling that the EU’s complicated structures have prevented it from resolving important issues like the avalanche of refugees or the financial crisis more quickly. Every time the risk is that it is doing too little, too late,” Faymann said in an interview with Austria’s Österreich newspaper.

Herbert Reul, an MEP from Germany’s Christian Democratic Union, said Austria’s plans were “unfair” on other EU member countries.

“To limit the influx of refugees is questionable and not in line with the U.N.’s convention,” Reul said.

Robert

Those who say that the current wave will help rebalance the demography of Europe and resolve issues surrounding shrinking workforces are clearly not familiar with the 2011 Eurostat report on migration or OECD assessments of fiscal contribution by immigrant-origins among households. Migration does indeed aid in tackling the negative side-effects of ageing, but this only truly works in countries that have selective systems such as Australia and Canada. European states often subsidize migrant households, rather than the opposite.

Posted on 1/21/16 | 9:37 AM CEST

rer

” According to Austrian media, the government is considering building waiting zones near its borders.”
A sound policy. All migrants should be placed in “waiting zones” and then sent back to whence they came. No permanent settlement, except for those who obviously will be killed upon return, such as atheists, gays, and non-Muslims. Only they have legitimate claims as refugees. The rest only need temporary shelter.